A Romanian hacker known as”Guccifer” who targeted high-profile US politicians has been sentenced to 52 months in prison. Marcel Lazar pleaded guilty in May on charges of aggravated identify theft and unauthorised access of a computer. RT reports: Marcel Lazar Lehel, 44, a former taxi driver and paint salesman, was arrested in Romania and charged with hacking. He was extradited to the US in 2014. In May this year, he pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a protected computer, admitting to hacking almost 100 Americans over a 14-month period. “This epidemic must stop,” said US District Judge James Cacheris on Thursday as he meted out a 52-month sentence to Lehel in his Alexandria, Virginia courthouse. A tough penalty would deter future hackers, the judge said. The sentence is just shy of the 54-month maximum penalty under US sentencing guidelines, which the federal prosecutors requested in the case. “The extent of the harm caused by defendant’s conduct is incalculable,” they argued. The hacker’s lawyers had asked for three years. Though “Guccifer” claimed to have accessed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, there was no evidence to show he actually did [...]
